Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

[rthstewart]

This post is NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS!  PLEASE POST YOUR NEW PROMPTS HERE, IN POST 2!  Do continue to fill prompts here but please put all new prompts in Post 2.

 

Welcome to the Three Sentence Ficathon!

Here's a Friending meme!

What is the 3 Sentence Ficathon?
This is an open exchange where you answer a prompt with a fic consisting of only three sentences. It's open to all fandoms and you can post and fill as many prompts as you like, as many times as you want.

What do I do first?
You can start 3SF by posting prompts! When posting a prompt please format it this way:

fandom, character(s), prompt word/sentence.

Only one prompt per comment please. So, for example,

Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I don't like sand."

Open ended and anthropomorphic fills are popular too, such as:

Any, Any, "I don't like sand."

or

Earth geography, sand, "I don't like humans very much, either."

What happens after that?
You answer other posters' prompts in three sentences (or more if you can't stop yourself) and fill as many prompts as you want, as many times as you wish. If you see that a prompt you loved has already been filled, go ahead and fill it again! Multiple fills of the same prompt are allowed and even encouraged! (We get really fun stories going this way).

Can I still post if I need more than 3 sentences? Or should I just abuse grammar in ways the English language never contemplated?
Yes. Yes.

But I'm not a member of Dreamwidth
No problem. You can comment anonymously or through open ID

I'm really overwhelmed by all the prompts and how much there is and how fast it goes. I can't read 1,000 prompts and fills. It's too much. 
I hear this a lot and it keeps a lot of people from participating.  The 3SF is big and it moves fast, especially at first.  I get overwhelmed, too, and I'm hosting the thing. With 2020 and 2021 sucking so badly you don't want something that's supposed to be fun cause you anxiety.  I have a couple of suggestions for managing the 3SF volume. 

• First, really, you don't have to read every prompt and fill on every page.  You can start at the last page of this and just go forward, or back a page or two.  It's fine.
  
• You can come and go as time and energy allow, you don't have to participate the whole time, and it drops off quite at bit after about 2 weeks and especially once we open a new post because this one is approaching 4,500 comments.
• Even after the 3SF and new prompting end, people fill prompts all year long.
• You can fill an already filled prompt and you can can leave a prompt that's already been prompted before.  People do it all the time. 

Always make sure you're looking at top-level comments only, not threaded. That helps a lot. Your screen should look like this.




But shouldn't I read everything to see if someone already prompted the same prompt I want to leave if someone already filled it? 
No.  Prompt as many times as you want, as much as you want.  It doesn't matter if someone prompted the exact same prompt.  Go ahead and prompt again!

I left a prompt and no one filled it.  Can I prompt it again?
Absolutely!

Can I spread the word?
Yes, please. I generally fail at creating banners and embed codes but if you create one and make it really idiot-proof, I might be able to post and share it.  Feel free to cross-post this entry. If you create your own banners or icons, let me know and I'll share!
Please share the 3SF with your followers, friends, and any channels and comms you are active on.  I'll post on fandom calendar, Tumblr, and Twitter, but I don't have many connections in other spaces such as Discord.

Here's my attempt at a text box that might go horribly awry.

<br /><a href="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/172142.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/172142.html"><img src="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/file/71907.jpg" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/file/71907.jpg" alt="" title="3 Sentence Ficathon 2022 Banner" /></a>




How long will it go?
The 3SF closes to new prompts on February 13, 2022. The entry stays open permanently and people post fills all year long.  (There were a bunch of new posts to the 2021 3SF this week!)

Are there any rules about cross-posting?
Nope, you can post wherever you want, whenever you want. A lot of folks collected their responses together and posted them on AO3 under the 3 sentence fiction tag. 3SFs are a terrific prompt for remixes and could be helpful for Yuletide bears, too.

What about spoilers, content and archive warnings, triggers, pairings, ratings, tags, and squick?

I thought a lot about this. It boils down to reader beware.  In my experience, this typically gets too big, moves too fast, and the stories are too short for content warnings and ratings to even apply. It is too big for me to moderate in this way. You should assume spoilers are fair game and that the initial poster and the responder have opted to use no content warnings or tags. This means AO3 content warnings for dubcon, violence, canon character death, underage, etc. COULD be present (and much more). I've found personally that I can skim and scroll by stuff that, from the prompt, I can tell isn't my favorite flavor of delicious cake. Use your best judgment, protect yourself, and be prepared to skip over things that aren't your thing. In this format, the obligation is on you, the reader, to protect yourself from triggering content.
Some posters do include warnings and spoiler tags or include spoiler space, but they don't have to do so.


Why is 3SF split among several posts?  That seems confusing.
It is confusing and we always lose momentum once we have to move to a second post. The reason is because at 5,000 comments to a single post, DW installs a human test CAPTCHA, which is a pain for users.  So, once this entry gets to the upper 4,000 comments, I open a new post.  If you've been waiting until things slow down to participate, when we open a second post is often a good place to join.

If I have questions, what do I do?
I'm rthstewart everywhere, here, Twitter, Tumblr, gmail and AO3.

A special thank you to conuly  .
Last year, Conuly started logging all unfilled prompts.
This year's (2021) unfilled prompts are here.
Last year's (2020) unfilled prompts are here.

Conuly asks that you not reply, as they want to be able to edit and add more prompts to the list.

 

Here, have some icons and banners and let me know if you've created your own!



      

Comments

Planning (Naruto; Kabuto, Orochimaru, past Sakumo/Orochimaru)

[kalira]

"-and I'll be standing by in case the Uchiha slips the trap we've already set for him," Kabuto confirmed, nodding absently, then paused, "your contingency plans are very complex; is there anything you don't plan for?"

"A plan for everything, eh, lovely?" Sakumo said, pulling Orochimaru's hair back and bending to nuzzle his neck as he snorted. "My clever snake."

"It is only a practical approach." Orochimaru said coolly, and gestured a dismissal.

FF7, Cloud/Tifa/Aerith (nsfw)

[raisedbymoogles]

Tifa moves against Aerith, shimmering with sweat and glitter, eyes sliding closed as she loses herself in the slow rhythm. Aerith is deceptively still by comparison, giving Tifa something steady to grind herself against, only her quickening breaths and the focus in her green eyes betraying her desire.

Cloud is braced above them both, hands and knees, somehow sure that if he moves an inch the sky will come crashing down.

[little_lady_d]

What isn’t a woman’s office is the office of a witch, and where no man would right her wronged cousin, it was a witch who went to war for them. A laugh flitted through her ears like flecks of gold eddying in a river — the laugh of the other Beatrice, the Beatrice who answered her bitterest jests and never turned away with a jade’s trick. “Come,” she cackled, “remember the sin,” because some sins should never be forgiven.

[svgurl]

Ted Lasso, Roy/Keeley, sunset

[raisedbymoogles]

Legally Blonde, Elle/Vivian, simple pleasures

Today Mama's Going to Shout (Naruto; Orochimaru, Kakashi, past Sakumo/Orochimaru)

[kalira]

". . .Mama?" Kakashi asked tentatively, and Orochimaru smiled tightly, crouching and stroking his son's hair.

"Everything will be fine, precious," he soothed, "you just go with Nori for a little while; Mama needs to . . . handle something."

Kakashi agreed, looking anxious, and let Nori shepherd him away while Orochimaru pulled the Edo Tensei scroll he had already prepared and muttered curses at his mate under his breath; he had a long list of things to say to Sakumo . . . and he had warned Nori to take Kakashi some distance away, because he suspected he would not be remaining quiet for this discussion.

[svgurl]

Harry Potter, Ron/Hermione, creating new traditions

[siver]

Final Fantasy VI, Any, visiting a chocobo stable

[ernest]

because some sins should never be forgiven. wow, yes! and beatrice the golden would certainly have some Opinions about how claudio treats hero. i really love the phrase 'a laugh flitted through her ears like flecks of gold eddying in a river' it's so lovely and evocative.

[svgurl]

Harry Potter, James/Lily, When you walk in the room that very night
A special feelin' just burst inside
It was only you, nobody else
But baby, I know better now (Gotta Tell You- Samantha Mumba)

[ravenlilyrose]

"Damn it, Q!"

His crew don't even look around to try and discover the errant nuisance of a godling anymore; they are quite used to both the minor inconveniences Q likes to leave in Picard's path and Picard's new habit of blaming even those inconveniences not a result of Q's games on Q.

Picard himself just glares at the figure sitting in midair in the corner of the briefing room, invisible to anyone but Picard and decked out in a strange garment made of feathers and flowers (likely for the sole purpose of distracting and annoying Picard).

[svgurl]

DCEU, Diana/Steve, breakfast in bed

[ravenlilyrose]

She's been away longer than she intended to be--the mission was scheduled to last nine months, but it has been three years since she has been on Alderaan.

After her debriefing (which involved several hugs and even a few tears), she walks the halls reveling in the peace they're infused with when she comes across a small girl who offers her hand: "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Fulcrum."

Ahsoka looks at the girl, who she has not seen since she was tiny, and sees familiar eyes and nose and face-shape and hair and images of smiling faces who loved her blur together and before she knows she is saying it, she offers her own hand and responds: "Call me Snips, little one."

[cornerofmadness]

You're welcome. I'll never tire of Al and his cats

[svgurl]

Gilmore Girls, Rory/Paris, borrowed clothes

[ravenlilyrose]

Community, the Study Group, family emergency

[ravenlilyrose]

Community, the Study Group, outsider POV

[zombie_honeymoon]

Any, any, damaged wings

[ravenlilyrose]

Well, they all still know their own names, which is a definite positive, and when the one who says his name is Ianto finds takeout menus, they all know what they want to order, so they at least vaguely know who they are as individuals. The problem is that they are in what seems to be some kind of secret bunker (maybe government related?) with no idea why they're there except for a vague sense of hideprotecthideprotect. They are all confused by the technology, though the one called Tosh seems to be having less trouble with it than everyone else and the flirty one who says his name is Jack but seems a little unsure of that is having the opposite problem of everyone else, poking at things that they think are normal and calling them antiquated, so maybe there's some time travel going on, too.

[cornerofmadness]

any, any, bone-weary

[ravenlilyrose]

Glee, New Directions, "This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good."

Naruto, KakuHida

[zombie_honeymoon]

Kakuzu doesn’t know what Hidan’s nightmares are made of, and frankly, he doesn’t ever want to know; considering Hidan and the things he does and believes in… for something to actually scare him, that tells Kakuzu more than enough to figure it out on his own.

Rather than wake Hidan—when he starts tossing and turning in his sleep, chakra flaring, mumbling incoherent words—Kakuzu instead reaches over and with a heavy hand on his shoulder tries to calm him that way.

Sometimes it works (it works better than giving him a hard shove which Kakuzu used to do at first; but that was before they got to know each other, before they got close and it only ever startled Hidan into throwing punches), and when it doesn’t work, as it seems is the case tonight, he tries running his hand through silvery locks before resorting to wrapping him tightly in his arms until whatever terror that has hold over Hidan releases him.

[anonne]

They were about to leave - the handler had ramped the price up when he saw Edgar's attire, neglecting to consider that for eight birds, it would make the total sum quite extortionate - when Terra said, "They're different here."

Celes was about to turn to her and speak sharply - don't be ridiculous, there's only one breed big enough to ride - but the glint of the nearest chocobo's eye stopped her in her tracks: it was brighter than those of the Imperial stock, she realised, and as she considered the bird, she saw that the feathers seemed softer and lighter, more relaxed.

"They're kept better," she concluded; "they're happier, away from all that."

[demigodscum]

(Well, this just feels personal now *snickers*.)


"Come on, Snips. If you manage to keep — and remember to use — both your sabers this time, you get — something. Whether you win the spar or not," Anakin says, raising both eyebrows at her and spinning his own lightsaber one-handedly in that way that makes her insides twist — not because it's a particularly complicated thing to do, it's just that he always looks so — so flippant when he does it, so arrogant, and Ahsoka finds it stupidly hot because she's wrong in the head that way.

She doesn't ask Anakin to specify whether "something" is his weekly meat ration or a shift off from bridge duty; she knows already what she wants, and she lets the promise of it keep her focused, lets it lengthen her reach, deepen her connection to the Force, heighten her awareness of Anakin and herself.

And when she's got Anakin pinned to the mats with her knees on his shoulders and her sabers each at one side of his neck and Anakin is laughing delightedly up at her, Ahsoka takes only a moment to pant and savor her win before saying, "Come on, Skyguy. You have a bet to pay."

Umineko, Beatrice

[ernest]

Beatrice knows what an unsustainable situation looks like, knows how easy it is to pretend that things aren’t so bad, really, right up to the moment that something’s got to give. Not a single member of this horrible family deserves anything the family has done to them, not even the worst of them, not even the patriarch who time and again ends up burning in a furnace where he belongs, but Beatrice knows just how to make it end for good.

She needs someone to save her from this island where every outcome is a bad one, and she knows just the person to figure her out in time, so she screams the one thing she truly wants: Please Stop Me.